Fire damages Fitchburg building; no injuries

FITCHBURG -- A fire that heavily damaged a mixed-use building on Summer Street on Tuesday night appears to be electrical in nature, according to crews on the scene.

Crews were called to 381 Summer St. by police Lt. Kevin O'Brien, who was out on the road getting dinner when he saw flames coming from the home.

O.G. Croteau Heating and Plumbing has offices on the first floor of the building, and there are apartments on the second and third floors, according to Fitchburg Fire Deputy Chief Dave Rousseau.

Rousseau said it appears the fire began on the first floor in the front of the building and quickly spread to the second and third floors. Nobody was home at the time, he said.

"We were initially told that there may have been someone on the second floor, so we did a primary search and we determined nobody was home," he said.

Neighbors later told firefighters the resident's car was not parked in the driveway.

"Nobody got hurt, which is a good thing," he said.

On first look, he said, nothing seemed suspicious about the fire, Rousseau said.

He estimated the damage to the house to be between $80,000 and $100,000, but said it did not appear the building is a total loss.

Advertisement

Peter Harris, who lives next door to the house with his parents, said that just last week, firefighters and police were called after a tractor-trailer hit low-hanging wires, causing a utility pole to come down.

Since then, his father, Richard Harris, said the fire alarms in the building have been going off constantly.

Peter Harris said when he saw the flames shooting out of the building Tuesday night, he and his father immediately ran outside and began knocking on doors to alert anyone who was home to the fire.

Richard Harris, who is a trained electrician, said he immediately shut off the gas to the building to prevent it from getting any worse.

Deb DeSando of Fitchburg used to visit her grandparents' house around the corner from the building as a child, and said the building used to have a soda fountain inside and penny candy was sold.

She said it's a shame to see the damage.

Unitil was called to the scene to cut off power and gas to the building.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sentinel and Enterprise. So keep it civil.